Posts by Jeff Shaw

With families still struggling, you’d think lawmakers would recognize the folly in helping shady dealers take advantage of homeowners, home buyers and renters. But House Bill 654 would do just that, rolling back simple and effective protections designed to stop foreclosure “rescue” scams, among other unscrupulous deals.

One frightening provision in the bill could allow scammers to create contracts so abusive, they’d be able to take your home away — even if you’ve made every payment on time. Who benefits from that?

North Carolina deserves better. Consumers deserve better. And we can do better, by defeating this bill.

In a new op-ed piece distributed today to North Carolina papers, Brigadier General Paul Dordal, USAF (Ret.) says that raising rates on consumer loans “sends a strong negative signal to the military and military families living in North Carolina.”

The full text of Gen. Dordal’s powerful message appears below.

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Raising loan rates is bad news for military families

By Paul Dordal, Brigadier General, USAF (Ret.)

For the past few weeks, military commanders at installations in North Carolina have expressed their opposition to proposed bills introduced in the House and Senate that would allow finance companies to raise charges on their short term loans. In spite of this opposition, last week the House Banking Committee passed this legislation, which sends a strong negative signal to the military and military families living in North Carolina. Read more

This evening about 6 p.m., Gov. Beverly Perdue vetoed a bill that would have prevented workers and students from funding their community college education. By preserving access to federal loans, this veto will preserve access to education and build a path to a brighter economic future for North Carolina.

The Justice Center has issued a statement in support of the Governor’s veto. It’s located here.

Folks, this is time-sensitive, so please take a moment to help keep community college affordable and help North Carolina build an economy that works.

A bill has reached Gov. Perdue’s desk that would undermine access to federal student loans for North Carolina community college students. We need to be sure these vital programs keep training our workers and educating our people. To do that, we need to ask Gov. Perdue to veto the bill.

Use this Action Alert for more information, or just call Gov. Perdue’s office at (919) 733-4240.

To build a path to the middle class, people need access to community college. A veto here would help preserve that access.

The Earned Income Tax Credit helps working families throughout North Carolina. Now, a new tool brings that message home visually.

Using the new interactive map at the NC Policy Watch website, you can quickly and easily see which counties benefit the most. With working families struggling to get by, the Earned Income Tax Credit is a powerful tool to put capital back into local communities – and this map shows you just which communities we’re talking about.

If you’re a reporter and want the raw data, we’ve got you covered, too. But spend a little time rolling the mouse over that map, and I think you’ll find there’s much to be intrigued by.